Top 4 E-Commerce Trends in 2023

E-commerce is the fastest-growing retail sector. Global retail sales will continue to grow and take up more retail market share. According to research completed by eMarketer and Statista, online retail sales will reach $6.51 trillion by 2023, with e-commerce websites taking up 22.3% of total retail sales.

Online shopping is easy and accessible from all sorts of mobile devices, this means that e-commerce businesses must ensure that their platforms (whether it is a website or an app) are mobile-friendly to stay competitive in the market. Current trends will impact how businesses operate, as well as how they price their goods and services.

We’ve put together a list of some of the top e-commerce trends to consider in 2023.

Mobile & Social Media Commerce

The use of mobile channels enables retailers to personalize the shopping experience based on customer data such as their age group, location, browsing behavior, purchase history, and abandoned checkout carts. The personalized offers, in turn, helps increase customer loyalty, and ultimately sales and profits.

The rise of shoppable media, such as live commerce, social commerce, and digital ads with commerce function embedded, is disrupting e-commerce in general. The new trend offers convenience for customers shopping on their mobile devices as well as provides retailers with new ways to increase revenue through direct sales from their own apps or websites, and without having their products stored in warehouses. Such development makes inventory management and controls more important than ever.

Retailers can collect actionable data through shoppable media and benefit by optimizing the transportation of merchandise from the nearest distribution center to the final destination and into the hands of the consumer. The retailer can save money on the logistics of delivering their goods to customers through data-driven logistics planning. To be successful in planning delivery methods for shoppable media businesses, the products must be easy to stock in and out from any device via mobile-friendly apps such as BoxHero.

Mobile devices make it easier for consumers to compare prices. Retailers need to have dynamic pricing strategies so the prices are optimally set at any given moment to attract new and existing customers. Some businesses offer mobile-exclusive deals or promotions in order to encourage mobile purchases, which also helps drive traffic to their mobile app or website.

Payment Options

The rise of mobile technologies and connected devices have also introduced novel ways to pay. The use of digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and Square is increasing, and customers can choose between trusted payment methods at different moments.

When introducing new payment methods, consider the followings:

Conversion rates: If a business accepts different currencies through multiple payment methods, it may need to consider conversion rates when setting prices. For example, if a business accepts both USD and EUR, it needs to consider the exchange rate when setting prices to ensure that it is making a profit. This is increasingly important due to the globalization of e-commerce.

Fees: Some payment options incur transaction fees, which increase the overall cost of a purchase. For example, PayPal charges a fee for its services, which is typically passed on to the consumer.

Payment process: Customers often experience frustration during the checkout process due to out-of-date payment methods. Businesses can enhance the customer experience by introducing new payment methods to provide an easy, quick payment process. The studies show improving the payment process reduces the average buyer drop-out rate and cart abandonment.

Visual Search

Visual search lets users find products by taking photos via their mobile devices, and it is becoming one of the most popular features in e-commerce today. Visual Search works best on mobile devices. To use visual search effectively in your business, make sure that the product page has high-quality images of each item listed—you want customers browsing through the photos to see what kind of quality craftsmanship they’re getting.

Visual Search can help improve e-commerce business– the customers who use the feature tend to click through more pages, get more engaged with what they see, and are eventually more likely to convert.

Transparency: Environmental, Social, and Governance Sustainability (ESG)

Regulatory changes and increasing environmental consciousness among consumers have put brands under pressure to respond to rapidly evolving ESG demands. More customers and investors require retailers to be transparent about 1) how they manufacture products; 2) the sources of the products they are selling; and 3) the impacts they have on the environment, people, and communities.

At the same time, new opportunities have emerged as consumers want to buy more sustainable products. In the U.S., approximately 50% of shoppers consider themselves green consumers, meaning they are environmentally conscious and use technology to research sustainability claims when making purchases.

The time is now for consumer and retail companies to gain clarity on their ESG roadmap and develop an executable strategy.

Conclusion

In the coming years, e-commerce will be more mobile and personalized. It will also be more interactive and accessible than ever before.

More people use their smartphones for shopping: mobile shopping will drive the future e-commerce trend. As a result of the trends in technology and consumer behavior such as shoppable media, retailers put efforts to create apps and commerce functions for their customers to browse products on mobile devices—and be able to buy them directly from the very screen without moving around the site back and forth.

As we have seen, the world of e-commerce is constantly evolving. Businesses should enhance the e-commerce shopping experience by making it more unique and personal, and providing easy payment options to stay competitive.